Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium

Author(s): Lauren Oliver

Reading Level/Genre: Young Adult

Hardcover:448 pages

ISBN:978-0061726828

Publisher: HarperTeen (February 01, 2011)

From the author of Before I Fall, Delirium is a love story set in a time and place where love itself is outlawed. 17 year old Lena (short for Magdalena) is anxiously awaiting her rite of passage to become safeguarded from the deadly disease known as Amor Deliria Nervosa, aka love. People are forced at the age of 18 to go through a procedure where the brain is surgically altered to be incapable of strong emotions, attachments, and love.

This is because society has deemed love & strong emotions to be dangerous and the catalyst for social problems like violence and hate. The solution therefore is without love, there can then be no hate, and without hate society is safe. Or so it seems...

Lena's own mother was mortally infected by the "disease", so she is hyper-aware and terrified of anything that could be a risk for it. But things change when she shocks herself and meets a boy who draws out a passion within her she never realized she had. From there her story mixes with dark adventure and incredible sacrifices that end with a bittersweet yet beautiful outcome. Overall I loved Oliver's writing and her description of the intensity of first love is perfect. Like the average teenage girl, I had a first love and it was such an intense and confusing experience, so I definitely could see how Lena's character would have a difficulty deciding between the promise ofan uncomplicated life versus the chance of being hurt, tears and heartache.

We ask ourselves all the time if it's worth putting our heart on the line. Love can at once be our greatest fear and greatest hope, and I love how well Lauren Oliver conveyed that in Delirium. It's a great YA book and I look forward to reading the next in the series for sure!

About Me

I'm just your average bookish girl that decided, on a whim, to try something new. I'm a common reader really, as Virginia Woolf might say; I spend my free time reading, in my "rooms, too humble to be called libraries, yet full of books, where the pursuit of reading is carried on".
I read and ❤ all kinds of books but I've got a real penchant for YA, Paranormal Fiction, and Romance.